A life of paradoxes has led me to discover the faerie space. This new world helped me to come to terms with my unusual story around the opposites - by presenting its own rich set of contradictions. Faeries and Tao have become the overlapping terms for me. The following set of articles is a personal attempt to grasp that multi-layered phenomenon. Looking at faeries from the Tao perspective, exploring the intrinsic Tao of Faeries.

This work does not describe what faeries should be, but what faeries once were (intended to be), what faeries are to me, what they could be, fears where they might diverge into, frustrations (or hopes) of what they will never become.

Faeries (according to popular beliefs) dislike leaders, hierarchies and ideologies. In correspondence to this, the shared culture of heart circles (and beyond) discourages faeries from using "we" statements and prefers a focus on individual "I" experience. I try not to follow this advice as a mechanical rule (ideology) and reserve a right to use "we" as a feature of speech, a tool to ask "us" questions - not necessarily to insert "should(s)". "We" gather to create a community of individual "I(s)". Both aspects are present at the same time - which is just another aspect of a harmony of opposites.

5001 [C]ontroversy [C]onversations.

Feedback, sanity check and [c]ritique are the important element of healthy non-ideological communities. The archetypal faerie motive of a minority within a minority can be harvested and taken even to the next recursion level. Who are the dissenting voices that consider themselves a part of faeries but moving at their fringes - what do they have to say and what channels faeries have to hear them?

5002 Daring to define faeries.

Being all-welcoming and non-ideological, there's still a meaning to the [c]oncept of faerie, faerieness, faerie space. How is it distinct from the rest? Faerie founders have left us to enjoy the amazing playground, with just a few cheeky questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we heading? - Why do we avoid answering them so anxiously? Are there any fundamental features without which there would not be any faerie [c]ommunity?

5003 Tao of faeries, Te of one fae.

You say "faeries are ..." - and almost immediately someone will [c]ontradict you, unless you manage to do so first. However, even faeries tend to take sides and some opposites feel almost blasphemous. As much as critique and dissent, the dark side is an integral part of healthy soul and balanced way of life. As a Tao-positive person, I investigate how the paradoxes define the best of faerie [c]ulture, without it becoming a [c]ult.

5004 Speak louder, we can't hear you!

The naughty note on radical art of listening, the healing service of witnessing the others, allowing them to be heard, seen, to feel they exist - in the non-judgmental hearts of fellow faeries. Acknowledging someone's present may reach further than just hearing them [c]learly. How much do we want to [c]omprehend the others for our own sake and how much we can listen to them as they want to be heard?

5005 Translating the language of love.

Offering a receptive ear to the sound of someone's statement, taking him into our heart - requires more than just understanding. How useful and how futile are the translations? What is the [c]ontent in all that spiritual passion for speaking in tongues? How much are the national(ist) identities and squabbles relevant to the faerie space? How oppressive and useful is the [c]ommon language? Can we introduce diversity without compromising the [c]ohesion?

5006 Occult cult of here and now.

Presence is a potent word among faeries. Unlike the mainstream culture, they gather - to interact live, to exchange and experience themselves and each-other in person. Bodies and their actions manifest in the present tense - but how important is to involve our spirits and souls, our past and future, our ancestors and our visions?

5007 Tea, biscuits and a nice ritual.

Faeries like being together, touching and playing. They indulge in spirituality, they worship the nature, they liberate themselves sexually. How to measure all those ingredients, how to [c]ombine them, how to bake a meaningful faerie experience? What point is there to faerie rituals? How foolish and how serious they can be? When do we serve them and when do they serve us?

5008 More than just the goosebumps.

As wonderful as experiencing the faerie life may be, the return to the outside world's reality often feels harsh. Is faerie magic just a fleeting bliss, too brief [c]ompensation for the life's hardships, the taste of something wonderful that we will never get? Is there something to take with us? Is there something to be proud of? Do we have a home now, a family we belong to, some place where we don't just feel accepted in our oddity, but are an integral, needed and missed part of? Can [c]elebrations extend from the momentary entertainment into something lasting, transforming and enriching?

5009 Subject-subject relationship.

The most ambitious ideal of Radical Faeries. What did the author want to say? Is just pointing fingers at subject-object interaction - in daring thoughts and fiery declaration - enough? Does this iconic mystery happen automatically with heart-circles and lots of cuddles? Is [c]ommunity or [c]oupling possible without a trace of usefulness, notion of benefits, balance of give and take?

5010 Altered states of mind.

How antithetical are the substances to the faerie space? What dangers do they present to the faerie space? How do they express our personal liberty - and how do they clash with freedoms of the others, how do they affect their faerie experience? Could the medicinal plants of [c]hemical substances enrich faeries space, could faerie space enhance the altered states of mind? How do we negotiate and not impose or exploit the safety net of faerie trust?

5011 So many ways to love.

Challenging heteronormativity may turn its essential institutions upside-down. Relationships, love and sex among the first. From subject-subject interactions to polyamory, faeries seem to be pioneers of different ways of [c]oexistence and [c]oupling. How far we can go in reinventing the answers to basic human needs of bonding? How close to the old proven ways we can stand? Is monogamy compatible with faerie reality? Are we ready to be truly polyamorous?

5012 Feeding the hungry faerie.

Usually, the more people worship, the less they practice. How does faerie reverence for nature reflect in our daily life? Is it just a matter of biodegradables and occasional organic meal? What is the footprint of gathering faeries - and how does the ecosystem benefit when we return home? Is permaculture just a subcultural endorsement pass-phrase, or a set of principles that shape our life? How much do faeries [c]consume their anti-consumerist conventions? What is the [c]ost of it all - how pays - and how frank can we be to talk about it?

5013 Making the magic work.

Does magic happen, or do we [c]o-create it for each-other? How do faeries share their tasks - and their asymmetrical skills? How easy do we [c]ooperate - and how much do we [c]ompete? Are the daily routines just the tedious necessities in order to have fun, or could the faerie magic be discovering [c]onnections and soul-care in cooking and dishwashing? Inquiry into joy in our work and how the community spirit builds up in shared tasks.

5014 Lessons of non-attachment

That instant when a person creates something, they immediately become attached to it. Improving the faerie sanctuary, adding bits of beauty, investing time and energy - we develop a sense of ownership. Our life and faerie space interweave - it's a challenge to untangle, step back, observe, let things happen, allow others to redress it, reshape it, repurpose it, to let it evolve in its own way. Is the sanctuary a laboratory or can it be called home? Is it just a lesson in non-attachment, or can we engage intensely without hurting ourselves and the others?

5015 Consensus and sharing the power

Are faeries, as a [c]ommunity suspicious of leadership and with aversion to hierarchy - immune to those omnipresent human concepts? As sex-positive people, with kinky insights into power-exchange, how capable are we to harvest that insight and perspective? Elders, stewards, strong personalities - how do they serve and how do they direct the community? How do ordinary faeries respond to them? How do we reach [c]onsensus and when do we rather skip it? When do practical shortcuts become short-circuits of community? Curious inquiry into power manifesting in a space without power.

5016 Resisting the corporate world

Despite the resistance to definitions, faerie sanctuaries were created as distinct spaces, where we create and find things rare or non-existent in the outside world. They allow us to release tension, relax, regenerate, recharge, reconnect to our own unique essence. Are they soothing and healing bubble? A refuge for all those who escape? How long so we stay? What happens when we leave? How do we survive outside of heart-space? What do we bring back to the ordinary world? How does the outside world interact with faerie space? Are we off-grid and totally self-sustaining, or could the [c]onnection be mutually beneficial?

5017 Perspectives from the outside

God manifests in his silence. The deeper layers of love are revealed in longing or its absence. How does faerie space express when we [c]ross its boundaries? How are our lives during faerie winter, what flavors of faerieness reveal when we dream of it and when we crave for it? Is faerie life forever, or just a transit stop in our life-long learning? How do we describe the faerie experience to others? How do other talk about faeries? Can we [c]ontrol the publicity, should we suppress the information flow, [c]lose the door and be more mysterious? How does the media [c]overage benefit us and how does it threaten the sanctuaries' purpose? How did we discover faeries and how will the rest discover us?

5018 Annoyed by the infamous bad faerie

Faerie community is not ideal, nor harmonious through and through. Conflicts and sometimes just surreal absurdity - frustrate and torment - but in the same time may serve its health. If faeries are not shiny-smile sect, how do communicate about what we can't stand? How vocally do we disagree and how silently we dissent? When do faerie grind their teeth? When do they show the worst of their dark side? And when will the house finally burn down? How do we deal with those ideals that we can't possibly make a reality? What's swept along the glitter down the stairs or under the [c]arpet? What skeletons do we hide in the drag room's [c]losets? How annoying the communal life can be and what are our tools to restore our anarchic order?